In early June I was approached about doing a review of these digital gauges. I guess you could say I was one of the pre-release testers, or beta testers, or whatever you want to refer to it as.
I received the production version last week, but have had a beta version on my Taipan Veteran Short since the 19th of June. The beta version installed in the gun started out at less than a full charge (96 or 98%) and has not been recharged since. I've put probably two tins of pellets through the gun in the past few months, even shooting it at a field target match this past weekend. The gun was shot through the course 3 times (twice by my son and once by me). In short, the gun has been shot quite a bit.
Guess what the percentage of that initial battery charge is left right now?...............................................66%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I start out with that as an intro because my initial reservations about a digital gauge were that I liked the idea, but thought that the dang thing is going to die at some point, and it'll likely be at an inopportune time. So, my biggest concern was that the batteries would need replaced or recharged often and just be a bigger pain than any gain in convenience that it offered. After a couple months, I can emphatically state, with a resounding NO, that that is not a problem with these Sekhmet gauges.
So, here is how they're shipped. The gauge is nested in nice thick padding.
With the other side offering a pocket for the recharging cord and a little compartment with some single-use lens cleaning packets. (Didn't count them but I'm guessing there's at least 5 in there, maybe more).
In the above pics you can also see the included charge cable plastic storage case. It's got a cool little retracting lid that should aid in keeping it dust and lint free until it needs used (which at this point, I'm thinking won't be very often).
So I decided to charge up the production version that came last week before I install it in a gun. I grabbed a few pics of the screen as it charged. Charging graphics are very similar to most electronics today, slowly filling up as it charges and then showing as full-bars when done. It flashes to "100%" when it is done. I didn't time it, but it seemed like less than an hour for it to go from 54% (where it was when I received it) to a full 100%.
As for HOW it charges, it can be left in the gun for charging. I circled the two charging pins on the cord and on their female counterparts on the face of the gauge in red. Those pins need to mate up for it to charge.
My best guess is that the extra female connection points are for factory programming. They are unused by the charger.
A few months ago, when I was inspecting how this works, I was initially afraid those pins were going to scratch the living daylights out of the face of the gauge. I quickly realized that the pins retract when even the slightest pressure is applied. That seems to keep the pins from scratching the faceplate as they find their way to the females. There is also a rather powerful magnetic assist to hold the head of the charging cable in place.
I also pointed out the three buttons on the face of the screen in the above picture (green arrows). Those buttons don't have haptic feedback or depress, but are like touchscreen "buttons" on a modern cell phone.
These gauges have some really cool features like shot count, shots remaining, and bar used per shot. For those of us that really geek out over the science of airguns, calculating efficiencies and comparing tunes, these features should prove quite interesting.
The website has further information and a short YouTube video showing the gauge in action.
http://www.sekhmet-us.com/digital-pressure-gauge.html
Here are some pics of the beta version from a few months ago, installed in my Shorty.
The display is flippable, by 180 degrees. I flipped mine to orient it correctly to not be upside down when loooked at it from a normal shooting position.
The install on the Veteran was extremely straight-forward. Remove the set screw holding the rotating fill port hole cover and slide the cover off, remove old gauge, steal the oring from it for the new gauge, and gently tighten down the electronic guage, then replace the fill port cover. Haven't had any leaks or issues. I actually did this out in the woods it was so easy.
As for aesthetics, it looks like the gauge was made for the gun, perfect fit and the black face plate matches the coloring of the anodized portions of the Veteran perfectly, down to the gloss level. Just a good looking combo.
When the gun is being filled the gauge acts just like the electronic gauge on a Red Wolf, even down to the fact that it slowly ticks down a few bar as the fresh fill cools off, just like a RW electronic screen.
Pretty sweet little addition to a gun. I was sold in the first few weeks when I saw how long that battery can go between charges. Even the beta version of the gauge gives so much more info, and accurately, than the analog gauge that it just isn't even a comparison. It's like going from a wind-up alarm clock to a smartphone.
I'll report back with continued thoughts, so, more to come.
I received the production version last week, but have had a beta version on my Taipan Veteran Short since the 19th of June. The beta version installed in the gun started out at less than a full charge (96 or 98%) and has not been recharged since. I've put probably two tins of pellets through the gun in the past few months, even shooting it at a field target match this past weekend. The gun was shot through the course 3 times (twice by my son and once by me). In short, the gun has been shot quite a bit.
Guess what the percentage of that initial battery charge is left right now?...............................................66%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I start out with that as an intro because my initial reservations about a digital gauge were that I liked the idea, but thought that the dang thing is going to die at some point, and it'll likely be at an inopportune time. So, my biggest concern was that the batteries would need replaced or recharged often and just be a bigger pain than any gain in convenience that it offered. After a couple months, I can emphatically state, with a resounding NO, that that is not a problem with these Sekhmet gauges.
So, here is how they're shipped. The gauge is nested in nice thick padding.
With the other side offering a pocket for the recharging cord and a little compartment with some single-use lens cleaning packets. (Didn't count them but I'm guessing there's at least 5 in there, maybe more).
In the above pics you can also see the included charge cable plastic storage case. It's got a cool little retracting lid that should aid in keeping it dust and lint free until it needs used (which at this point, I'm thinking won't be very often).
So I decided to charge up the production version that came last week before I install it in a gun. I grabbed a few pics of the screen as it charged. Charging graphics are very similar to most electronics today, slowly filling up as it charges and then showing as full-bars when done. It flashes to "100%" when it is done. I didn't time it, but it seemed like less than an hour for it to go from 54% (where it was when I received it) to a full 100%.
As for HOW it charges, it can be left in the gun for charging. I circled the two charging pins on the cord and on their female counterparts on the face of the gauge in red. Those pins need to mate up for it to charge.
My best guess is that the extra female connection points are for factory programming. They are unused by the charger.
A few months ago, when I was inspecting how this works, I was initially afraid those pins were going to scratch the living daylights out of the face of the gauge. I quickly realized that the pins retract when even the slightest pressure is applied. That seems to keep the pins from scratching the faceplate as they find their way to the females. There is also a rather powerful magnetic assist to hold the head of the charging cable in place.
I also pointed out the three buttons on the face of the screen in the above picture (green arrows). Those buttons don't have haptic feedback or depress, but are like touchscreen "buttons" on a modern cell phone.
These gauges have some really cool features like shot count, shots remaining, and bar used per shot. For those of us that really geek out over the science of airguns, calculating efficiencies and comparing tunes, these features should prove quite interesting.
The website has further information and a short YouTube video showing the gauge in action.
http://www.sekhmet-us.com/digital-pressure-gauge.html
Here are some pics of the beta version from a few months ago, installed in my Shorty.
The display is flippable, by 180 degrees. I flipped mine to orient it correctly to not be upside down when loooked at it from a normal shooting position.
The install on the Veteran was extremely straight-forward. Remove the set screw holding the rotating fill port hole cover and slide the cover off, remove old gauge, steal the oring from it for the new gauge, and gently tighten down the electronic guage, then replace the fill port cover. Haven't had any leaks or issues. I actually did this out in the woods it was so easy.
As for aesthetics, it looks like the gauge was made for the gun, perfect fit and the black face plate matches the coloring of the anodized portions of the Veteran perfectly, down to the gloss level. Just a good looking combo.
When the gun is being filled the gauge acts just like the electronic gauge on a Red Wolf, even down to the fact that it slowly ticks down a few bar as the fresh fill cools off, just like a RW electronic screen.
Pretty sweet little addition to a gun. I was sold in the first few weeks when I saw how long that battery can go between charges. Even the beta version of the gauge gives so much more info, and accurately, than the analog gauge that it just isn't even a comparison. It's like going from a wind-up alarm clock to a smartphone.
I'll report back with continued thoughts, so, more to come.
